American political activist and author Angela Davis will serve as the 2012 James Farmer Visiting Lecturer and Black History Month Keynote speaker at UMW. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.

The lecture is sponsored by the James Farmer Visiting Professor Committee and the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium. For more information, contact Courtney Chapman-Thomas, director of leadership and strategic initiatives, at (540) 654-1665.

Steel Drum Band

Wednesday, Feb. 1

7 p.m.; Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center

Join the James Farmer Multicultural Center for the commencement of the 2012 Black History Month Celebration as Ewabo plays an eclectic range of music that incorporates soul, R&B, and funk music on Caribbean steel drums.

Library Exhibit: Celebrate Black History Month

Feb. 1-29

Simpson Library will feature written and digital resources from the UMW libraries collections that highlight prominent African-American women and African-American history and culture.

Dinner: Cuisines of Black Cultures

Monday, Feb. 6

Seacobeck Hall

Dinner cost: one meal-plan meal or $10.30 plus tax

Eagle Dining will feature African and Caribbean cuisines.

Social Justice Brown Bag Lunch Discussion: Prison Industrial Complex

Wednesday, Feb. 8

Noon; Woodard Campus Center, Meeting Room 4

Film Discussion: The Prep School Negro

Wednesday, Feb. 8

6 p.m.; Combs Hall, Room 139

André Robert Lee’s film portrays how a full scholarship to a Philadelphia prep school was supposed to be his way out of the ghetto, how he paid a high personal cost for the elite education, and looks inside today’s continuing racial naïveté. Co-sponsored by the James Farmer Visiting Professor Committee, James Farmer Postdoctoral Fellow in Civil Rights and Social Justice, Office of Student Affairs, Department of History and American Studies, and Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

An Evening of Jazz: A Tribute to America’s Great Black Artists

Thursday, Feb. 9

8 p.m.; The Underground, Lee Hall

The UMW Faculty Jazz Ensemble will feature works by legendary African-American jazz musicians. Co-sponsored by the UMW Department of Music.

Gospelfest

Sunday, Feb. 12

4 p.m.; Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall

An evening of gospel music and spiritual uplift with choirs, singing groups, and praise dance teams. Co-sponsored by Voices of Praise.

An icon of the nation’s quest for social justice, activist and scholar Angela Davis has spent decades building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality. The author of eight books, Davis has served for the last 15 years as professor of feminist studies and professor of history of consciousness, an interdisciplinary doctoral program, at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Co-sponsored by the James Farmer Visiting Professor Committee, James Farmer Multicultural Center, and the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium.

Essence of African-American Culture: Fashion and Arts

Friday, Feb. 17

7 p.m.; Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center

The Black Student Association will celebrate African and African-American culture with a talent show and Pan-African fashion show.

Lunch: Cuisines of Black Cultures

Monday, Feb. 20

Seacobeck Hall

Cost: one meal-plan meal or $8 for lunch.

Eagle Dining will feature Creole and Southern soul cuisines.

American Red Cross Blood Drive

Tuesday, Feb. 21

Noon-6 p.m.; Great Hall, Woodard Campus Center

Co-sponsored by the Black Student Association and Talk to the Hands.

Donate blood or to volunteer to assist with this event, email tragland@mail.umw.edu.

The Color of Sisterhood: African-American Camp Fire Girls, Girl Scouts, and Social Change

Wednesday, Feb. 22

7 p.m.; Combs Hall, Room 139

Georgetown University Assistant Professor of History Marcia Chatelain will explore the role of African-American women’s activism in desegregation and in transforming national girls’ organizations. Co-sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Department of History and American Studies.

22nd Annual Step Show and Competition

Saturday, Feb. 25

Cost: $7; $5 with UMW ID

An array of the area’s most talented step teams will engage in a high energy, entertaining competition. Co-sponsored by Women of Color and the Black Student Association.

Film Discussion: Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

Tuesday, Feb. 28

6 p.m.; Chandler Hall, Room 102

A disciple of Gandhi, a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., and the architect of the 1963 March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was an openly gay man during the fiercely homophobic ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. This documentary explores his activism for peace, racial equality, economic justice, and human rights. Sponsored by PRISM- People for the Rights of Sexual Minorities.